Verstappen jabs at other teams: 'If only half as good, I'll be alright'

Nothing seemed to stand in the way of claiming pole position for Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was strong throughout the session. In Q3, the Dutchman was slower on his first lap than he was in Q2.

Pole for Verstappen in China

"It was a bit confusing in Q3 where on the first run I went slower than in Q2," the three-time world champion began. "It might have been the wind, because it's very difficult to understand that. Around here with the wind direction, it's very sensitive to the balance of the car."

Things improved in Verstappen's second run, he says: "For the final run I didn't really know what to expect, but you just push on and everything just came together. The grip felt a little bit more normal and I managed to improve. So that was very nice. I think overall, the whole qualifying, I was very happy with the car. It felt very well balanced as well. So then of course, naturally you can push on and that was, I think crucial to be on pole today."

Team boss Christian Horner told the Dutchman before qualifying that he could well take 100 pole. Verstappen says: "Before I jumped in the car, Christian told me, if you got pole today, it could be number like 100 for the team. So I was like, okay, well, that's nice. I'll try it. I'll give it a good go. That's an incredible achievement for the whole team. Of course, also a big contribution from Seb Vettel back in the day."

Bad news for competition Red Bull

The Dutchman continued: "Fantastic. Also to have the 1-2 in qualifying, it showed that the car is, again, working really well. From my side, it's been a really good start to the year. I feel probably very confident in qualifying even compared to last year. Just a shame, of course, that we retired in Melbourne. Otherwise, I think we could have had a very strong lead. But, overall, still a great start."

During the sprint race, Verstappen was of course already very strong. He thinks the sprint race was a good test for the main race. "It gives you a bit more of an idea with the degredation, what to look at, what to work on for tomorrow. Of course, the wind direction is going to change again tomorrow. So the balance of the car at some corners will be a bit different again. But I think if the car is only half as good as what it was in the sprint, I think we'll be all right."